ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Martin Andersen was searching for a church to join when he came across the website of Experience, a new congregation meeting in town. “There were lots of pictures of happy people, a calendar full of events, cool web features and audio,” he says. “I was impressed.”

But when Andersen visited Experience on Sunday morning, he was surprised to discover “eighteen people gathered in a public school gymnasium.”

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Ever since 81-year-old Mae Hodges bought a used Volvo, “strange-looking people” have been approaching her around town to pay compliments.

“They tell me, ‘Thank you for being a pioneer in our movement,’” Hodges says. “I have no idea what they mean.”

The flow of appreciation began after she started driving the nondescript Volvo wagon, which bears several bumper stickers. One sticker shows a multi-colored flag, another a pink equal sign, both of which Hodges found “very cheery.”

NEW CASTLE, Del. — Sam and Victoria Gutman have always been smart shoppers, but they have gone to another level during the recent recession, buying automobiles, computers and more from distressed owners. “God continues to bless us,” says Sam. “All things really do work for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. We’re living proof.”

Last week they bought a Lexus coupe from a man who lost his job — and pension — when his employer collapsed. “He was weeping when he gave me the keys,” Sam says. “I got that car for a third of what it’s worth. Beautiful leather seats, new tires. God is so good.”

WHEATON, Ill. — Tim Lindsey knew something was different when he came home to find the house a wreck, his children eating cold Spaghetti-O’s in the closet, worship music cranked to window-rattling levels and his wife Katelyn curled up in her favorite chair reading devotional books and drinking herbal...

SEATTLE — After cramming his calendar with volunteer events for the last six years, Al Simpson finally quit all ministry activity and discovered that “doing nothing for the Lord feels way better than I expected.”
Simpson still enjoys daily time with the Lord and Bible reading. But he now refuses to...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Martin Andersen was searching for a church to join when he came across the website of Experience, a new congregation meeting in town.
“There were lots of pictures of happy people, a calendar full of events, cool web features and audio,” he says. “I was impressed.”
But when...

KIRKLAND, Wash. — In their first months together, Christian college students Jacob Williams and Hannah Smith partnered to sponsor a child from Venezuela.
“It was a beautiful, symbolic gesture of our new relationship,” says Hannah. “We both cried when choosing little Roberto at a Casting Crowns...

NASHVILLE — Henry Cloud and John Townsend have taught people how to have boundaries in their marriages, friendships and workplaces. Now they are teaching people how to have boundaries with God.
“Our research keeps showing that people feel vulnerable in a relationship with an all-powerful Being,” says...

NEWHALL, Calif. — When Tim and Eleanor Green heard that their church was offering a special Communion experience for expecting parents, their interest was piqued. A month later they gathered in a room with twelve other pregnant women and their husbands to take what the church dubs “pre-birth” or...